Yah de yah more rumours today which seem to go on longer than an England penalty shoot out. And boy was that long! As I watched it in the pub and poor old Scott Carson dived the wrong way yet again for the umpteenth time someone shouted out “are they still under 21?”

The latest rumour concerns Fernando Torres. We are told he is Benitez’s top target and that we are ready do a deal as Atheltico Madrid, with no European football next season, are resigned to letting him go. There is however disagreement about the amount, with figures from £17m to £30m quoted in the papers. There is also one article that says we want Torres AND Diego Forlan and another suggesting Luis Garcia will be part of the deal.

Will the £27m buy out clause in Torres’ contract be an issue? Or is it just Madrid’s way of trying to attract higher bids aka Lyon with Malouda? Take your pick as to what you want to believe or just wait and see what happens. This seems to be the best option in these days of rampant speculation where the only thing that is certain is uncertainty?

Meanwhile our new away shirt goes on sale today and it’s white.

It looks Ok to me and I prefer us playing in white away from home to yellow. Rumour is that our away kit for the European games will be black. Does this replace the white green effort that we only wore twice, at the Nou Camp and at Galatasaray? And will we keep the yellow one for domestic games should be unable to wear red or white. If not then that’s two shirts that have only lasted one season!

Nonetheless some of the best kits we‘ve had were by Adidas, our current manufacturer. The kits covering 1985-89 were good but these were at the beginning of our deal. However as it went on they became more fiddly and ostentatious straying away from the all red theme. Remember the dreadful “skeleton” home kit of 1994 and the awful effort with the three broad white strips over the shoulder that looked they were about to claw you back?

When Adidas and Reebok, our manufacturer until last season, merged we reverted back to the Germans. I thought Reebok did quite well with the kits as they were not fussy ie, all red with a few tasteful bits of white but who can forget the famous “arcue” shirt. Quite a lot of you I suspect!

The club had no such problems years ago. As a youth I looked on with envy as the likes of Manchester United, Spurs, Southampton, Coventry, Wales and England who, with the aid of Admiral, trotted out new kit after new kit with designs that made the players look like Christmas trees! Not so Liverpool who flew in the face of fashion and continued to wear all red with little or no embellishment. How boring I thought but now I embrace such tradition. Clearly we were ahead of our time! “Retro” is the word these days, but want the **ck do I know? I’ve been buying the same style of trainers for ten years!

Amidst all the design changes one thing on our shirt has remained constant for the last 16 years. Carlsberg!

The recent renewal of the sponsorship deal, worth about £7.5m a year, for another three years will mean that we’ve been sponsored by the Danes for 19 years, by far the longest deal of this type in English football.

Someone called Keld Strudahl, sponsorship director of Carlsberg International said

“Liverpool itself is such an indelible brand that it holds up even when the club isn’t doing well,. For us, it’s about creating loyalty and passion for our product.”

My, how things have changed. A few years ago the relationship, then twelve years old, was expected to end as the brewer considered it was not getting value for money due to the loss of Michael Owen to Real Madrid and the threat that Steven Gerrard may go to Chelsea!

How does the new deal square with the issue of new rules preventing replica shirts emblazoned with alcohol sponsors being sold to children? Luckily for us the ban will apply to all sponsorship contracts signed from January 2008, which presumably means that the Carlsberg deal will escape?

I guess it’s no coincidence that the Carlsberg deal ends when we are expected to move. This will leave us free to attract a stadium title plus new shirt deal, along the lines of the arrangement Arsenal have at the Emirates?

Finally on the subject of the stadium it seems that talk about the plans being revealed this week where unfounded. It’s going to be at the end of the month. Humph, I bet it’s down to solicitors or estate agents. It always is!!!!